The value of the video game market in the US in 2020 is estimated to be $60.4 billion USD. Consumer spending on video games in just the second quarter in the US alone was $11.6 billion USD. In a market like this, competition is fierce. Here is a list and overview of today’s top 5 crypto games analyzed by Millennium Communications, covering a wide variety of styles. All use the popular Non-Fungible Token, or NFT as integral to each game. With these top picks chosen for their ease of use, popularity, flare, and potential for growth, there really is something for everybody…
CryptoKitties
The landscape of crypto games has changed dramatically since 2017. It is when the mad rush of CryptoKitties, the world’s first blockchain gaming application, famously pushed transactions on the Ethereum network to an all-time high. CryptoKitty enthusiasts eagerly bought, bred, sold, and collected adorable, virtual, and cryptographically as well as aesthetically unique felines, congesting the network. They sent a clear and loud message to the world: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have real monetary value and can also be a lot of fun.
On December 2, 2017, “Genesis,” the first and most expensive CryptoKitty sold for ETH 246.9255 — at the time $117,712 USD — that very day. It was also noted that they may be a liability on a blockchain network. Almost immediately after launching, CryptoKitties became so popular that increased activity on the network slowed it down to a crawl. The number of participants needed to be held back, so on December 3, 2017, to help slow the rate at which buyers were transacting CryptoKitty breeding on the network, the CryptoKitties design team at Axiom Zen doubled the “birthing fee.” (This seemed to help.)
In fact, the popularity of the game is still so high, by virtue of its classic prestige, ease of use, and well cuteness, that it leads our list of today’s Top 5 NFT Crypto-Games. With a daily transfer of 865, it’s still #1 according to Etherscan for NFTs.
Axie Infinity
Our second pick, Axie Infinity is a standout for boldly combining elements of DeFi with NFTs. The Ethereum-based game Axie Infinity is a decentralized turn-based strategy game with influence from Pokemon and Tamagotchi as players breed, battle, and trade NFT fantasy creatures called “Axies.” And now as its governance token, the AXS — Axie Infinifty Shard — is available (from October 27, 2020) on Binance. Players of the game were also airdropped AXS tokens as a reward for their previous participation. These governance tokens bestow voting power to holders for decisions concerning the gaming platform.
Axie Infinity holds the #2 position on opensea.io/rankings by market cap with an impressive 26.18% uptick over the past 7 days. Since launching, the game drew over 7,000 token holders and over 4,500 active marketplace participants. The total volume is 16,412.5 at the time of this writing and total assets clock in at 192,067, a popular and unique option for gamers.
Gods Unchained
Gods Unchained is a TCG — Trading Cards Game — comparable to Hearthstone where players earn card packs to build a deck of unique rare cards, all ERC-721 tokens. With its stellar team of ex-Google and Riot Games engineers led by Chris Clay, the former game Director of Magic: The Gathering Arena, Gods Unchained garnered $15 million in funding, helping it to become one of the top games of the blockchain gaming community.
Unlike other free-to-play games, Gods Unchained offers players complete ownership of their in-game items. The game works in different modes, allowing single or multi-player format and it includes competitive weekly tournaments leading to sizable prizes. Total assets according to OpenSea.io hit 6,949,531 with impressive 14,636 owners. The graphics are beautifully created and the game is fast-paced making for an exciting option for gamers.
TerraVirtua
Our 4th pick is a next-level immersive collectible platform incorporating mobile, AR, and VR with unique social, gaming, and creative experiences, powered and secured by a blockchain. Users are given their own Terra crypto wallet funded by a credit card and/or linked to a Metamask account and funded with ETH. This platform is a stand-out due to the near-infinite possibilities for collectors of digital assets.
Through TerraVirtua, own a rare car to showcase or race with others on a virtual track. Own a one-of-a-kind spaceship and use it to explore VR space. Display your digital collection of vinyl album covers which also unlock music – in your personal lounge. All are possible in Terra Virtua. Users own their unique digital assets, show them in their personalized Terra Art Galleries, FanCaves, or Terra Domes and show, share, trade, and participate with them — and with others if desired. It’s a complete platform for trading, sharing, and playing with collectibles from top brands, from the iconic movie, “Top Gun” to the Netflix show “Lost In Space.” Virtual items may be purchased in the marketplace or through an auction.
What makes the platform so special is not just its endless potential for creating new environments and methods of display for collectibles, but its ultra high-level of graphics and design. TerraVirtua is on its way to becoming the leading platform to share, trade, and interact with digital collectibles in creative, social, engaging, and immersive ways.
TradeStars
Tradestars is a fantasy stocks trading game powered by the Ethereum + Matic Layer 2 blockchains. Cricket was launched in January 2020 with quickly onboarded 30,000 users. Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, car racing and other sports will be released next. Right now, one can pre-register for TradeStar’s version 2 to be released later in November.
Players trade fantasy stocks and their value is influenced by the real-life performance of the athletes. This way participants can leverage their sports knowledge to make money on their investments. TradeStars uses blockchain to provide transparency, decentralization, continuous liquidity, and real digital ownership.
The platform aims to combine the best of traditional fantasy sports gaming with blockchain gaming. It’s built on a set of smart contracts to interact with users managing liquid stock markets, with assets that can be traded at any time. By cutting out any intermediary, it essentially gamifies DeFi (Decentralized Finance, rising in popularity now).
Based on a user’s stake in different markets, a percentage of other users’ transaction fees may be earned. This creates a platform for games of competing sports knowledge that’s not just fun, but potentially quite profitable. Tradestars offers gamers an exciting and unique opportunity in the blockchain gaming space.
This completes our 5 top NFT Crypto Games list. With so many choices out there and so many unique options, possibilities really are endless. Happy gaming to you all and may the best and smartest players win!
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